In the areas of foreign policy and diplomacy, technology has brought about a tremendous amount of change. [...] In our point of view, the impact of breakthrough technologies on foreign affairs can be seen through accelerating transformation in five significant areas: security, institutions, participation, dialogue, and leadership.

There is a lot of talk about political leaders, foreign ministries and individual ambassadors in the social media, but there is a more important discussion when it comes to digital diplomacy. Rather than consuming digital content and playing with social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the real challenge of online diplomacy is about "digital making."

They look like scenes from a Hollywood movie. [...] Underneath the images, a track of soulful music enhances his emotional plea. But this video isn't from Hollywood. It's from ISIS. The Islamic State's online recruitment is so powerful that the U.S. government is having a difficult time counteracting it, according to experts who study efforts by both sides.

The State Department wants to increase collaboration with the private sector and push for more data analytics on what is and is not working in its efforts to counter the Islamic State online, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel said at a New America Foundation event on Dec. 16.

Above all fields of study, science and technology is the fastest in terms of change and development. And as we see the year 2016 in horizon, we can expect numerable changes on the technology we experience today – changes that could impact our lives for better or worse. [...] It can be used for conversations and other systematic functions. Organizations may use bots to sort tag articles in real time, manipulate social media activities, surveillance and digital diplomacy.

Politicians and some technologists say that [ISIS accounts], and hundreds just like it, show how Silicon Valley’s efforts to crack down on the use by terrorists of social media have been toothless [...] On Sunday, Hillary Clinton [...] called on tech companies to become more aggressive. “Resolve means depriving jihadists of virtual territory, just as we work to deprive them of actual territory,” she told an audience [...]

As soon as news broke that the San Bernardino, Calif., shooters were Muslim, skilled Muslim activists took to social media platforms to denounce Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his 27-year-old wife Tashfeen Malik. But after the New York Post’s online headline “Muslim Killers: Terror eyed as couple slaughters 14 in Calif.,” the term “Muslim Killers” began trending with more than 10,000 tweets.